


Illegal Night Adventures (That End With Getting a Cute Guy's Number)

by c0cunt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Creepy shit, M/M, POV First Person, POV Jean Kirstein, Urban Exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 03:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6314080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean can't wait to go exploring the abandoned hospital that Eren's father had worked at, after ages of badgering Eren into taking him before.  Eren decides to drag two of his other friends along that Jean's never met, and then things get a little...Spooky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [In_agony_and_ecstasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_agony_and_ecstasy/gifts).



> Happy birthday Leigh!!! I hope you like this!  
> I had a different idea, which was more in line with the answer for the anon you posted a while ago (about what you'd want in a birthday fic? Yeah, that was me ^-^)  
> (Hey! Check out this [amazingly cute Sasha](http://fartherstone.tumblr.com/post/143950048766/sasha-who-i-am-in-love-with-from-c0cunts-fic) that my amazingly talented friend [ballpit](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpit/profile) drew!)

  I couldn’t help but be anxious as I waited for the sun to go down.  Most don’t take too kindly to a twiggy almost-adult guy in ripped up jeans and a t-shirt that’s definitely seen better days to be loitering around their establishments, and since I didn’t have anywhere better to be until after sundown...Well, I hope that the owners of Clara’s Cakery didn’t mind too much that I was making good use of their bench out front as I read my book, ankle hooked around the loose straps of my backpack.  The poor book’s binding is nearly giving out, and I could probably recite the first five chapters without any difficulty, but I still like to reread it.  I’m glad that this bench is facing the town’s square though, so I could discreetly people watch when my book starts to bore me, like it had started to a few minutes previously.  And there’s always a lot of people out here most days; Shinganshina is a lot more active and outdoorsy than Trost was.  None of them were really catching my attention like they usually did; no one was vicious like Eren was when I watched him the first time, nor were they quietly commanding like Mr. Smith, or intimidating like Mr. Ackerman.  No one interesting was around, and it was...Kind of disappointing, as I slowly packed my book away and checked the time.

  It was as I was thinking about starting to head towards where I would be meeting up with Eren later, that I spotted them.  It seemed to just be a band of scraggly young adults like me, but several were carrying little cameras as they skated around on roller blades or ran, and were wearing GoPro-like things on helmets and knee pads as they dipped and swooped among the bike racks and tree limbs that were low enough to catch onto.  I squinted at them much in the same way that other well-to-do people squinted at me probably:  Suspiciously, as if waiting for me to do something that could warrant having the cops called.  The only difference between them and me, as far as I knew, was that I never planned to be caught in mischief when the sun was up.  I could clearly identify five of them, but there may have been more than that blurred together as they ran, climbed, and skated.  Three tall brunettes, a short blonde, and one with a shaven head all hooting and hollering as they sped off down the block.  Couldn’t have lasted more than two minutes before the five of them disappeared around the block, one of them cheering “Go Sashmo!” As one of the brunettes somehow landed a flip perfectly as they flew out of a tree, without losing momentum at all.  I kind of felt like I needed a nap after seeing all of that activity moving so quickly...But a quick look at the time on my watch and a glance at the sunset made me decide otherwise, as I stuffed my book away and hauled my backpack over my shoulder.  Tonight was gonna be a fun night, hopefully.

 

* * *

  
  
  Of course, Eren was late.  Like, he usually was to most things, but I really didn’t want to be waiting around all night.  I hated that I had to wait for him to show me the way to the abandoned hospital that he had been telling me about a few days ago, but he knew the way much better than I did, since his father had decided that bring your child to work day was a good idea as a doctor in a busy hospital.  Plus, I didn’t want to waste battery power from my phone to look up directions, even with it at 89%, in case I needed it later.  So I just sent him a quick text asking where his lazy ass was, and waited, gnawing at my nails when I got a bit too bored.  Of course, as soon as I let my guard down and relaxed against the nearest tree in the clearing, that was when Eren decided to show up, baggy jeans just barely held up by his belt, with two other people in tow.  I recognized the one with the shaved head from earlier, and he had a handheld camera and soft looking fingerless gloves, but was lacking the helmet from earlier.  The girl next to him cracked her bubblegum, and I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose at her dirt-covered flannel shirt that hung open over a just as dirty white t-shirt, with both knee and elbow pads still on from earlier, as Eren pulled me into a tight one-armed hug, apologizing vaguely for his lateness.

  “Oh, and these are some buddies of mine from college, Sasha and Connie, and they wanted to tag along,” He said, gesturing to the two behind him, the brunette waving when her name was called.  So I guess Connie is the name of the guy with the shaven head.  At least he didn’t seem to be as determined as Sasha to look muddy and disheveled, with his black sweater and practically painted on...Were those leggings?  I squinted and yeah, they definitely looked like leggings, with teeny tiny shorts over them.  Someone (I’m betting it was Eren) cleared their throat loudly, and it almost would’ve made me jump if I wasn’t already determined to not get spooked tonight.  Eren told me that his father always said there was freaky shit going on at the hospital he worked at (not his exact words, but basically what it boiled down to), and since it had been abandoned ten years ago...Well, as long as there wasn’t any basement trawling, I’d be fine.

  “Nice to meet ya both,” I grumbled, nodding at the pair.  Sasha grinned as she tied her hair up tighter, and Connie lifted a fist with a goofy grin.  I snorted slightly but allowed myself to fistbump him, before (definitely this time) Eren cleared his throat and clapped his hands to get our attention.

  “Alright kiddos, since Kirschstein and I are the only ones with flashlights, y’all will have to stick to one of us like glue.  And Jean, can we not get separated tonight?  I haven’t been here since the place closed down, and Dad’s still going on about how it’s dangerous and all that jazz, so I’m kinda…”  Eren shrugged vaguely, and wiggled his hand in an iffy gesture.  I smirked at Eren slightly, remembering last time where I jogged ahead of him to take some photos at the old Trost hospital, and he’d freaked out when he felt some grass waving around his ankles.  I wish I’d had a camera like Connie’s, to record his freak out, but alas.  At least I still had something that I could internally tease him with forever.

  “Yeah, stick to ya like glue.  Now can we get there already?”  I asked impatiently, tugging my flashlight out of my backpack.  I rezipped it quickly as Eren jerked his head in a nod and turned to jog through the trees down a path that I hadn’t really noticed earlier.  Sasha fell in line behind Eren, and Connie stuck pretty close to me.  We kept a fast pace, winding through the woods in a complicated pattern that I’d never remember the way out of.  Thank fuck that Eren was leading us.  We were wandering through the woods for what felt like a long time in silence (but I’m not exactly the best judge for how fast or slow time moves), before Eren slowed down enough for him to walk backwards and hold the flashlight up under his face, his face thrown into sharp shadows with an almost vicious grin very clear.  His scary story telling face; I couldn’t help grin back, knowing we were all in for a scare.

  “Wanna hear some spooky shit that’s gone around about this place?”  Eren asked, and obviously we all made sounds of agreement just so he’d continue.  At least, I did; maybe Connie and Sasha were genuinely interested.  Eren stopped and the three of us kind of fanned out around him as he began his story.  “This place, like most of Shinganshina, is old as balls, and I think it was built in like, late 1800’s?  Something like that...Anyways, before it was a spick and span official hospital and all that, it was like, a real shit hole where people that were mentally ill were shipped off to, and y’all know how shitty asylums like that were?”  Eren paused and waited for all of us to nod.  Connie seemed a bit more perturbed than he had earlier, anxiously wiping his hands on his pants as if to get rid of the sweat gathered underneath his gloves, his camera juggled from hand to hand.  “But yeah, when I was younger and Dad took me with him to work, he let me wander around the offices nearby since they were being used just for storage as long as I didn’t touch anything.”  Eren smirked slightly at that as he wiggled his fingers, and I snorted.  Telling Eren not to touch something was like telling a dog not to eat the half-chewed kibble in its mouth.

  “I found like, this weird trap door underneath a little rug in one of the offices, and I really wanted to go in it, but apparently Dad could sense I was about to get into trouble.  He scolded me for trying to touch things, and said that there was a bunch of things about the hospital that were scary that little boys shouldn’t poke around with.”  Eren let out a cackling laugh at that, and Connie jumped at the sound, the hand that wasn’t still clutching his camera automatically gripping at the ragged edge of my shirt.  Eren started walking again, as he singsonged over his shoulder back at us “Good thing none of us are little boys, right Kirschstein?”

  I shook my head and patted at Connie’s hand.  He quickly let go and mumbled an apology as I waved it off.  “We’re all adults here, aren’t we?”  I laughed, letting Sasha skitter in front of me and shadow Eren.  There was a chorus of agreements as we continued in silence, but Connie still seeming more than a little spooked.  “Hey, you okay?”  I asked softly, slowing down in case it was because of Eren’s and Sasha’s presence that he hadn’t already dipped out.  Connie blinked up at me, hazel eyes wide and lips parted slightly on a breath, before his mouth snapped shut as he swallowed audibly.

  “Yeah, fine...Just a bit nervous, y’know?  My first time time urbexin’, y’know?  S’creepy.”  Connie’s voice was soft, and wavered slightly as he tried to cover nerves with a laugh.  I couldn’t help a little smile, remembering just how terrifying my first urbex adventure had been, ages ago when I was still in Trost.  

  “Yeah, it can be creepy, but there’s four of us, we’ll be fine.”  I patted his shoulder comfortingly, as we reached the edge of the woods.  Sasha and Eren were further ahead, chatting quietly as they leaned against the large stone wall that seemed to surround the perimeter of the hospital grounds.  “Hey, want me to hold onto your camera?  Since it seems like we might be climbing and all, and it doesn’t look like you have a pocket on you…”  I trailed off, digging my thumb underneath the strap of my backpack.  Connie looked at me out of the corner of his eye as he bit his bottom lip, but nodded and held the little camera out to me.  I swooped my pack over my shoulder, balancing on one leg as I used my other knee to hold the bag steady as I unzipped the front pocket for Connie to drop it in.  “Just remind me it’s in there later,” I said as he carefully slipped the camera in and rezipped it with a nod.

  “Hurry the fuck up, you two!”  Sasha called, annoyance as clear as the crackling of her bubblegum.  I had a bad feeling that that gum noise was going to be getting on my nerves the rest of the night, but I just chuckled slightly before hurrying up.  If this practical stranger was getting frustrated with our speed, then Eren was probably half a second away from ditching all of us, goddamn impatient asshole that he is, but he just wiggled his eyebrows at me as he looked between Connie and myself.  I rolled my eyes at him, and instead looked at the wall in front of us.  It was pretty tall, maybe not exactly double Eren’s height but something like that, and made of stone.  At least there wasn’t barbed wire at the top, like several places I had gone exploring before.  Easy as pie.

  “Allllllrighty,” I huffed, looking for handholds in the stone.  It was slightly crumbly, but not so crumbly that I would be nervous about it breaking under my hand, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get up and over.  “I think Connie should go first, then Eren, and Sasha.  Shouldn’t be too difficult getting up there…” To prove it, I easily found several handholds and climbed a majority of the way up, smirking down at Eren.  He glared up at me, and grumbled something under his breath, probably calling me a horseface like he usually did when he was annoyed, jealous about how easily I could find exactly where to grab; just like our rock climbing class all over again.  I climbed back down, dropping the last few feet with a small smile.  Sasha gave me a narrow-eyed look and snorted.

  “You just want to go after me so you can look at my butt,” She accused, her voice slightly accented this close up, but her words sounded stiff and formal.  I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, as Eren doubled over with a hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter.  Didn’t really help, as it echoed around the weirdly-silent forest around us, but the effort was appreciated.

  “I’m...Very gay, but I’m going to guess you have a nice ass?”  I said, slightly confused.  Connie coughed a few times to cover his own laughter, and I’m at least fifty percent sure that Sasha blushed as Eren shook with his laughter, using the wall next to him to keep him standing.  Like, if telling her that would make her feel better about me definitely not checking her out with interest, even though a nice ass could be appreciated regardless of gender of the ass owner and viewer, then so be it.  It was also a bit of a lie:  I'm bisexual, but Sasha doesn't really seem to be my type, just judging from the little bit that I've learned about her.  Sasha huffed loudly and grumbled at Connie to stop laughing, before brushing past all of us so she could climb up first.  She scaled the wall almost as quickly as I had, soon straddling the top with and looking down at us haughtily.

  “Y’all comin’ or what?”  She drawled, a thick southern accent that sounded much more natural to her than the tone she had been using before coming out, the difference like night and day.  Eren snorted and shimmied his way up, flashlight in his mouth.  He hesitated as he pulled himself up, looking around the grounds for a minute before apparently deciding it was safe for him to swing over, and began to pick his way down the other side.  Connie anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, before taking a deep breath and starting to pull his way up the wall.  I stood back a little bit, shining my flashlight up the wall so Connie could look for potential handholds in the wall, even though logically it was a terrible idea to hold light up where it could potentially be seen and reported.  Connie was a lot more cautious than our other friends had been, carefully testing his weight against the stone.  Maybe it was just because he couldn’t feel it as well through his gloves or something, but he easily made it up as well, Sasha heaving him over the last bit of the wall impatiently, before helping him get ready to climb down.  Since I’m not an animal like Eren and unwilling to shove flashlights into my mouth, I turned it off and shoved it into my pack, tightening the straps just enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about it flapping as I climbed up, but could easily get it off my back on the other side.  A bit of a wind picked up then, ruffling my hair slightly as I hefted myself up the wall.  Not enough for it to be annoying, but it was definitely there.  Wisps of hair that hadn’t been caught up into Sasha’s ponytail floated slightly in the breeze, but...The leaves on the nearby trees didn’t rustle at all.  The effect was kind of eerie, and Sasha looked just as confused as I felt by the time I’d reached the top of the wall.

  “Didja feel that?”  Sasha asked, the gum she had been cracking making an appearance by the edge of her lips, before she chomped into it again anxiously.  I nodded, hoping that she was just referring to the wind, and that something else weird hadn’t happened while I’d been worrying about leaves not moving with the breeze.  Sasha shivered and grumbled something about ‘ain’t bein’ no ghost snack tonight’, contemplatively looking back down the way we’d climbed up, as if debating whether or not it was a good idea to bail out.  She seemed to come to a conclusion as she threw her legs over the edge and started to carefully edge her way down, Eren moving a bit closer in case she slipped, Connie holding the flashlight to light up her path.  The three of them backed up so I could start to climb down, which was always arguably what I was worst with when rock climbing.  I kept trying to twist around and look where I was going, and it always ended badly...So I wasn’t too upset when I lost my grip about halfway down, shouting out a warning for Connie and Eren to back up as I tumbled down, somehow landing on my ass with a high pitched whine and a huff.

  Eren and Sasha almost immediately started cackling, but I ignored them both in favor of wiggling out of my backpack’s straps, and checking on Connie’s camera.  It didn’t look like it’d taken any damage from my stupid fall, and I handed it over quickly to Connie, who had rushed forward after I landed.  “It doesn’t look hurt, does it?”  I asked, nervous that I’d fucked up his gear not even ten minutes after offering to hold it so he wouldn’t damage it.  Connie’s eyes glanced over it quickly, before focusing back on me.

  “Did that fall hurt?”  He asked instead, offering me a hand up.  I shrugged slightly as I let him pull me to my feet, surprised at how strong Connie’s wiry arms were.  My ass definitely hurt, but it wasn’t too painful.  I tested out if I could still walk without too much of a limp or pain, ignoring Connie’s concerned looks as well as Eren’s and Sasha’s tear-filled laughs.  Seriously, those two were so loud they were gonna get us caught.

  “‘M fine,” I grumbled, smiling awkwardly at Connie to try and sway his concerns.  “You two, shut up, I don’t want the cops getting called on us,” I snapped after another few minutes of listening to them cackle.  My fall hadn’t been _that_ funny.  Besides, I’d be doing a repeat performance of that later, so they could laugh more on our way out if they really wanted to.  Eren calmed down soon after, wiping tear tracks from his face, as Sasha wiggled up from where she had leaned against the wall when her laughter almost made her fall.  “Can we go in now?”  I asked, gesturing towards the building that loomed in the distance, a dark smudge against slightly lighter surroundings.  

  Eren bounced on the balls of his feet, a strange light shining in his eyes as he stated “We don’t even have to break into this one.”  Before I could ask why, he was pulling on the leather cord he was never without, and pulled out the golden key that was hanging on it.  It might’ve been unfounded, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious at its appearance:  What parent would let their kid have a key to their former workplace?  Though, from what I remembered of Eren telling me, Dr Jaeger was a bit of a strange parent, often bringing Eren in to work and insisting on running tests on him even though he was perfectly healthy.  “Dad said that one day I’ll wanna come back here, and he wasn’t gonna stop me,” Eren added with a shrug.  I’m pretty sure it bothered him, that his father wasn’t willing to explain it to him why he thought Eren would want to go back, and would rather his only child wander around an abandoned hospital for answers.  “C’mon, let’s go,” Eren said, jogging ahead as he flipped his flashlight on, Sasha dashing after him.  Connie and I were left to follow, at a slightly slower pace as Connie slowed to my speed for me.  I almost felt bad, holding him back, so I forced myself to move faster, ignoring the little twinges of pain that shot from my ass and lower back.


	2. Chapter 2

  “Is this technically breaking and entering if we have a key?”  Connie asked jokingly as the four of us crowded around the employee’s entrance,  Eren grumbling as he flipped his key to fit into the lock.  It hadn’t worked on the front door, which had frustrated Eren to no end, until he remembered (blushing and pouting slightly) that his father usually only used the employee’s entrance, and it would make sense if it worked for there.  I shrugged at Connie’s question, as Eren turned the lock and let out a short bark of laughter when the door unlocked.  Opening the door itself was more of a challenge, and as Eren, Connie, and I leaned our weight against the door, I lamented that Reiner hadn’t been able to join us.  His family had plans to meet up with old family friends, and he couldn’t wiggle his way out of that, but his strength really would’ve been appreciated right now.  

  Something inside scraped along the floor, raising goosebumps along my arms, and I felt some sort of extra relief that we all seemed to agree without words to not try and force the door more open than necessary.  Connie, Sasha, and I exchanged hesitant looks as Eren wiggled in, shoving the door open a little bit further so my backpack wouldn’t catch on the door.  “C’mon,” Eren whispered, gesturing for us to follow him in, flicking his flashlight on without a backwards glance at the rest of us.  Sasha entered next, squeezing her belly in as she slipped past the doorknob, whispering for Eren to wait up.  Connie looked a lot paler than he had earlier, the golden brown of his skin that had been radiant as it caught the setting sun’s light now appearing washed out from nerves as well as the slight light given by the moon.  I bit my lip, not wanting to linger outside, but also not wanting to go in as well.  I took a steadying breath, and took a few steps forward, stopping only when Connie’s hand shot out to grab mine.

  “You’re seriously going in there?”  He asked, his voice sounding much squeakier than earlier.  I nodded, not really sure if my voice would hold solid if I explained that I had begged Eren for months to bring me here, and he’d only agreed to it after I had helped his adopted sister get an internship at my father’s company.  (Honestly, I hadn’t needed to help with that:  Mikasa would’ve gotten the internship either way, but father was impressed to know that his lowlife son knew someone who was as intelligent and driven as Mikasa Ackerman.)  I gave Connie’s hand what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze, even as I tugged him closer to the door.  I felt bad for pulling him along after me, but at the same time I didn’t want to wander in alone.  Like, I knew that Sasha and Eren were in there, I could hear them whispering, but I felt a bit safer knowing that Connie was right here, even if I hadn’t known him for long.

  “Don’t worry,” I whispered, throwing a slight smile at him over my shoulder, “Just stay close, and we’ll be fine.”  Even as I tried to stay confident, a solid chunk of ice slid into my belly as soon as my foot crossed the threshold.  I had a bad feeling that this wasn’t going to be like my past urbex adventures, as I had been foolishly confident for every single one of them, charging into the places like a bull in a china shop.  Connie held his breath as he crossed the threshold after me, and I couldn’t make fun of him for that.  Dusty air just tastes different, and it’s off-putting the first time you breathe in air from a place that’s more dust than air (which is what appeared to be Connie’s case, or at least he’d never breathed something this dusty before).  Eren looked completely relaxed as he looked over the dusty halls, small chunks of ceiling having apparently given up on trying to stay aloft in various places.  Sasha didn’t seem  _ too _ freaked out, but definitely nowhere near as calm as Eren.

  “So…” I started, after turning on my flashlight and letting Connie cling closer to me, “Where do you wanna start?”  Eren hummed slightly, and seemed to be thinking of something very hard, with how crunched up his eyebrows were.  Sasha and Connie remained silent, Sasha kicking up dust as she shuffled her feet against the filthy carpeting.  Instead of coming up with any sort of helpful opinion, I started humming the Jeopardy theme, which at least made Connie let out a breathy laugh for half a second.

  “Let’s check out my dad’s old offices,” Eren said confidently.  The three of us tried to keep pace with his excited bouncing as we followed him down the narrow hallway that the employee’s entrance had dumped us into.  The flooring sometimes squished unpleasantly underfoot, and Sasha immediately gagged after her hand accidentally brushed against the wall, but for the most part, the place seemed to still be in good condition.  Well, as good condition as a building that’d been abandoned for around ten years could be.  I was mostly surprised about how there didn’t seem to be graffiti anywhere, nor any broken windows that I could see from when we had approached the building.  While it had seemed weird earlier, now looking back on that, coupled with the lack of damage inside, I felt a lot more anxious about it now than I had been.

  “Hey Eren...This place seems to be in, like, really good shape…”  I said slowly, my whisper barely heard over the sounds of our feet clopping down the hall.  Eren appeared to have heard me at least, tilting his head to one side slightly as he turned to face us, a pensive look on his face.

  “Well...Yeah, no one really wants to come up here, especially after all the lawsuits against everyone that worked here…”  Eren frowned harshly, before he bit his lip and started to lead again.  I think Connie, Sasha and I were all frozen for a second, letting our brains click into gear before realizing we were being left behind, and rushing to catch up.

  “Lawsuits?  What happened?”  Sasha asked, holding her hands up quickly when Eren suddenly turned to face her, a flash of anger lighting up his features.  I had jumped back the slightest bit, putting myself between Eren and Connie, even though I knew that if Eren wanted to make this into a fistfight, he’d most likely win.  Normally, I wouldn’t be so worried about a fistfight happening between us, but...Nothing about this felt normal tonight, and I surprised myself with how much I didn’t want to get into a fight with Eren right now, even as the anger on his face disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.  

  “There was a bunch of allegations that some patients here were experimented with against their will, or given drugs that they had refused.  I think the head surgeon and a bunch of administrative people were convicted,”  Eren said calmly, but there was a look in his eyes that clearly said ‘don’t bring this up again’.  “I think like, some people think the place is haunted, since y’know, people died here and all.”  Eren shrugged, unconcerned, as Connie’s eyes bugged out of his head and Sasha looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.  “People die in hospitals all the time,” Eren added sharply, as if daring any of us to say otherwise against him.  I let out an agreeable hum, and Eren shot me a surprisingly grateful look.  He gestured for us to keep following him, and while Sasha looked longingly back in the direction of the door, we all continued to follow him.  

  “I got a bad feeling about all this,” Connie breathed almost too quietly for me to hear, even with how close he was pressed up against me.  His warmth was at least comforting, if nothing else, and I wrapped my free arm around his waist.  I wasn’t sure if I was trying to be comforting to him or if it was the other way around.  Eren led us down a flight of stairs, into the basement, and I couldn’t help a studdering breath:  Basements were the bane of my existence, and in all past urbex adventures I had adamantly refused to go below ground level.  It didn’t seem like I had a choice, especially with how weirdly protective I was feeling over Sasha and Connie, who continued to follow Eren even with how creepy and weird he was acting tonight.

  “Didn’t know your dad was so underground,” I tried to joke weakly.  Eren glanced over his shoulder at us, his lips twitching up in a quick smile.

  “That was a shitty joke Kirschstein, and I bet you only made that ‘cause you fuckin’ hate basements,”  Eren said with an actual laugh, and I felt my face burn as I groaned.  Why did he have to bring that shit up?

  “Don’t even, basements are fuckin’ creepy and you know that,” I bit out.  Did Eren like, get off on sharing how I was a fuckin’ scaredy cat whenever new people were present?  Sasha raised an eyebrow, and looked as if she wanted to argue, but a rustling noise made her freeze.  I probably would’ve frozen too, if I couldn’t almost immediately identify it as small mammal sounds.  Most likely, they had been here a lot longer than we had, so it wasn’t something to worry about.  “Probably just a rat or somethin’, don’t worry,” I mumbled as Connie and I came level with where she stood.  She nodded jerkily, and hurried to catch up with Eren and cling to his arm.  They fell into a hushed conversation, Sasha slowing Eren down a little bit, and I felt a little thankful that I could slow down a bit more without widening the gap between us even more.

  “I don’t blame ya, basements are messed up,” Connie whispered, eyes darting around, attempting to find the source of the small rustling noises, as we started down the stairs.  I grunted in agreement, trying to block out the tiny rustling noises as we reached the bottom of the stairs.  Eren seemed super confident now, humming a cheerful tune as Sasha clung to his arm and led us through several different turns that I couldn’t keep track of.  Like, holy shit, how could a hospital’s layout be so fucking confusing?  Wouldn’t the staff complain about always getting lost?  This whole place was creeping me the fuck out, with almost no light coming in from outside.  There were tiny rectangular windows, but most of the light was blocked by overgrown grasses that waved slightly in the breeze outside, making the light waver and swish.

  Eren slowed down as we neared the end of the corridor, eventually stopping outside of one of the closed doors.  I lifted up onto my tiptoes to look over his and Sasha’s shoulders to see what was interesting about this particular door, until I noticed the dull silver plaque on the wall near it proclaiming “Dr Grisha Jaeger, MS, FACS”.  There were other words on it, but they were small and too smudged to make out underneath the larger letters.  Eren immediately tried the doorknob, frowning as it became obvious the door was locked.

  “Jean, lemme have that kit you got?”  Eren asked, making grabby hands in my direction but not turning away from the door.  I sighed theatrically, not really wanting to break out my lock picking stuff just yet, but dug into my backpack for it anyway.  Eren could get a bit unruly when someone didn’t do as he asked, and I was so not up for his bullshit right now.  Maybe the sooner we got into the office, the sooner we’d get out.  At least, I hoped so, and with Eren working the lock it’d go a lot faster.  Sure, I always carried the equipment for it, but I just plain didn’t have the required patience to pick without breaking something.  Somehow, Eren did have the patience, and he set to work immediately as I held my flashlight up to make sure he could see.  Sasha and Connie gave me strange looks, but neither of them said anything when I shrugged at them.  Not all urbex people wanted to be fucking breaking down doors when there was a simple and easy way to get into locked rooms.  It was an easy lock apparently, as Eren soon was twisting the doorknob and opening the door, but he didn’t enter the room.  Instead, he took a deep breath and turned to face us, a look of concentration on his face as he mumbled “Let’s see...I think it was this way.”  And with that, he turned back down the hall we had been going through, still clutching my lock picking tools, leaving me, Sasha, and Connie loitering anxiously before slowly following.

  Eren stopped in front of a door labelled “storage” in peeling black lettering, frowning at it in thought, before grinning at it and trying the knob.  Of course, it was locked, but that didn’t deter Eren’s grin, which turned more predatory as he set about unlocking the door.  We all stood silently, waiting to see what Eren was up to, so we all heard it.  The tiniest noise, like a pebble that had been kicked down the staircase, echoed down the hallway.  Connie choked on his own breath, and Sasha jumped behind the pair of us, while Eren slowly turned in the direction the noise came from.  “Did we close the door behind us on the way in?”  Sasha whispered, leaning her chin against my shoulder, pressing her front into Connie’s back, which in turn pressed Connie’s front into my back.  

  Eren shrugged and turned back to the storage door, letting out a breathy little “yes” when it finally unlocked, and he shouldered his way inside.  Sasha immediately shoved Connie and I to follow him, throwing the door shut behind her and leaning against it.  Eren was searching for something on the floor, and Connie was gripping my wrist that held the flashlight like his life depended on it, making the light dance around a little bit with his and my combined shaking.  “T-that didn’t sound like no rat,” Connie whispered, just loud enough for all of us to hear.  Eren didn’t seem to be listening, grumbling under his breath as he tugged at the large rug that was pinned under several different filing cabinets.  He let out a cackling noise of triumph as he ripped the rug wide enough for the trapdoor underneath to be revealed, at the same time we all heard a door slam shut.

  “Alright, I’m goin’ down there,” Eren said excitedly, eyes glittering brightly in the dim light.  Sasha let out a choked noise, and I just stared at him.  Holy shit, what was wrong with this idiot?  I opened my mouth to say something, to tell him not to go down there, hell to lead us out of this place, but all that came out was a tiny whimper as the trapdoor jostled a bit on its hinges.

  “Are you NUTS?”  Connie barked, apparently all the shaking in his body not affecting his voice at all, ringing loudly and clearly around the small room.  Eren just blinked at him with an eyebrow raised challengingly, not breaking eye contact as he leaned down and pulled the trapdoor open with a flourish.

  “If you three are too chicken to come with me, wait up here.  I dunno about you, but I was planning on doing some exploring, and this is what I’m gonna go check out.”  Eren waved his flashlight, illuminating what appeared to be a ladder that led deeper underneath the hospital.  I shook my head violently and stepped back; that shit had “very dangerous” vibes coming off of it from fuckin’ miles away, and there was no way in hell I was going to mess with it.  I guess Sasha and Connie agreed with me, as Eren sneered at the three of us and huffed “tch, babies” under his breath before disappearing down the trapdoor.  We listened to his footsteps for as long as we could, ears straining in the silence to hear whatever he was doing.  It wasn’t long before Connie, Sasha, and I could only hear our own breathing, and whenever any of us shifted and made fabric moving-noises.  I figured we’d be in for a long wait, leaning slightly against the smaller filing cabinet that was nearby, watching as Connie and Sasha drifted closer together and started whispered conversations that were too low for me to hear.

 

* * *

 

Boredom is something that comes very quickly to me, and soon enough I was fiddling with the top drawer of the filing cabinet, a pensive frown on my face.  Just what the fuck was Eren thinking, going alone into some dark underground tunnel-like thing?  Did he have any sort of self preservation?  I snorted slightly, remembering that his best friend Armin and his sister were like, 90% of his impulse control as well as preservation skills.  Too bad Armin was studying abroad in England, and Mikasa was already out in Trost getting ready for her internship...Fuck, and now the moron only has a flashlight and my lock picking tools.  There was a sudden clattering noise, and I jumped about two feet in the air before whirling around, heart beating rapidly in my throat.  It took me a second to realize that Connie and Sasha were hovering over a different filing cabinet, the cabinet drawer handle lying uselessly on the floor between them.

  “What’re you two doing?”  I asked, still unwilling to raise my voice above a whisper.  Sasha shrugged, but Connie was still squinting at the filing cabinet.  Curious, I stepped over to them, keeping as far away from the goddamn trapdoor as possible and giving Connie some light to see whatever it was he was looking at.

  “I think these are like, old patient files,” Connie whispered back, gesturing to the tiny little label that he was trying to read.  It was smudged to all hell, and there was no way to get into that particular drawer as it was, with the damn handle on the floor.  But I had to admit, I was curious.  Why would there still be all these files here?  Weren’t hospitals supposed to destroy hard copies of files when they shut down, to prevent some assholes from coming in here and stealing hospital records?  The drawer that Connie had been attempting to get into was labeled up to...KZ?  I wondered who would even have a last name with the first two letters as “kz”.  Weird-ass fucking consonants.  The drawer underneath, though, was labeled as “JA - JP”, and my curiosity was even more heightened.  Did that mean that Eren’s files would be in here?

  Without really thinking, I dropped onto my knees to get a better look at the drawer, looking to see if there was any rust or other things that may cause the handle to fall off like the one above it had.  With no indication of rust, I tugged on it gently, rewarded with a small screeching noise.  Shit.  Sasha had jumped and let out a few words that I couldn’t recognize, but whatever language they were, it was probably a string of curses.  Connie looked over at the trapdoor, anxiously rubbing his palms on his pants again.  I frowned, even more determined to get into the damn drawer now.  It was fuckin’ taunting me or something, so I pulled on it even harder.  The loud screech that resulted was worth it, revealing yellowed files with little name tabs.  I pulled one of the files out, a thin one that didn’t seem to have much information in it, squinting at the name on it to see who it belonged to.  “Jaeger, Carla.”  I muttered.  So that would mean, logically, the file behind it would be Eren’s.

  The file that had been behind Mrs. Jaeger’s file was  _ so _ much thicker than hers had been.  Like, it had to be at least two inches thick, and that was fuckin’ weird.  Eren had never really been sick in all the time I knew him, and he never mentioned having gotten sick a lot when he was younger...Either way, I needed to get my paws on that file, if for no other reason than to make sure it didn’t fall into someone else’s hands who would use the information maliciously.  Connie poked curiously over my shoulder, and even Sasha seemed interested after having drifted away slightly to close the trapdoor.

  “Carla Jaeger?  Isn’t that Eren’s mom’s name?”  Connie asked, and I nodded as I pulled out Eren’s file, and stuffed it into my bag, along with Mrs. Jaeger’s.  There was a small red “T” on the front of Eren’s file; maybe I’d ask him about it later, after I’d give it to him.

  “Mrs. Jaeger’s really nice!  She made the best cookies when I went over and visited ‘em earlier,” Sasha added, a dreamy expression on her face.  Probably thinking about the cookies; even I had to admit, Mrs Jaeger’s cookies were the best.  Just don’t let my Maman know that.

  Before we could all get lost imagining Mrs. Jaeger’s cookies, there was a tremendous crash from down below, followed by a sound that...Was that running water?  The three of us exchanged anxious looks as we heard Eren cursing and a lot of sloshing, before he reappeared from the trapdoor, utterly soaked and terrified.  “Go, go go, we gotta get outta here!”  Eren called, scrambling up as quickly as he could and slamming the door shut behind him.  None of us needed to be told to leave twice;  Sasha scrambled for the door, nearly ripping it off its hinges with how much force she put into opening it, Connie grabbed my arm and heaved me along with him as I zipped my backpack up and stumbled to my feet.  I didn’t have time to react as Eren yanked my flashlight out of my hand, and raced out of the room with Sasha close on his heels, too worried about getting the hell out of here.

  Our frantic footsteps and heavy breathing echoed loudly around us, intensifying as we crashed our way up the narrow staircase and back onto the ground floor.  I couldn’t even feel relieved about that, unsure of how many of the numerous loud booms were noises made by our running, or had been caused by us running.  It was deafeningly loud, making my ears ring, Connie still trying to pull me along, Eren and Sasha not much further ahead of us as we snaked our way back out through the employee’s entrance, the door slamming shut behind us.  I could’ve sworn I heard a distinctive  _ click _ of a door being locked, even as Sasha yelped as she tumbled down over a small hole in the ground.  Eren had already shot back to her side and was dragging her along by the time Connie and I reached her, chanting “c’mon c’mon hurry up we gotta get out of here” as we neared the wall.

  None of us waited to allow someone to climb first this time, fear driving all four of us to scramble up as quickly as we could.  I still reached the top fastest, leaning back down to drag Connie up faster once I had sat myself up on top of the wall.  I glanced back at where we had come from, and nearly pissed myself in fear:  What appeared to be hundreds of people were running towards us, black silhouettes against the pale grass below, and they seemed to move faster in the scant seconds I looked back at them before Eren started screaming for me to move.  I startled and tumbled down, arms flailing uselessly as I smacked into the ground, once again ass first, on the forest-side of the wall.  I stumbled to my feet with a long groan of pain, Connie and Eren both grabbing at me to pull me along as Sasha ran ahead with the flashlight.  Apparently she had a killer sense of direction, and soon enough all four of us were scrambling across streets until Eren took the lead again, leading us back to his apartment.  

  I only breathed a sigh of relief once all four of us were inside, the front door barricaded and both windows at least triply checked to make sure they were locked.  The cramped studio apartment felt like a haven, warm and well lit even if the floors were covered almost completely in dirty clothes.  Eren seemed super anxious still, checking and rechecking the windows even as he stripped down to his briefs in front of us and threw on dry clothes.  I couldn’t fault him for being anxious, adrenaline still rushing through my veins even as I gingerly sat down on Eren’s loveseat, slinging my backpack off and dropping it at my feet, with Connie collapsing halfway on top of me seconds later.  “You’re all welcome to spend the night,” Eren said as he fell face first onto his mattress, Sasha claiming the beanbag chair near the TV.  Soon enough, surprisingly, there were soft snores coming from both of them, and even Connie seemed sleepy.  How they could sleep, I had no clue, but I also didn’t really mind Connie’s warm weight resting along my side....How I was sleepy was a mystery as well, but with all the running and fear I had experienced today, I could cut myself a little slack and let my eyes flutter shut.


	3. Chapter 3

  Someone kicked me, hard, as I woke up, and I couldn’t help but yelp and swat at whatever was kicking me, keeping my eyes shut.  There was a smell of pancakes in the air, though, which I didn’t expect:  Eren couldn’t cook to save his life, always getting microwavable crap that he could munch on when mooching breakfast off of Armin or Mikasa was out of the question.  “Wake up, Kirschstein, and I’ll give you a pancake as well as your lock picking shit,” Eren said, accompanied by another kick that made me groan.  I blearily opened my eyes, glaring up at my ‘friendly’ attacker.  I wondered for a second where Sasha had gone, spotting Connie at the stove with a large bowl of pancake batter at his side, tall stacks of fluffy pancakes towering on plates already.  Eren’s bathroom door slammed open, revealing Sasha, who floated over to the counter and stole the tallest stack of pancakes.  Eren took the opportunity while I watched Sasha shovel pancakes down her throat to drop my tool kit on my lap.  I moved slowly, a dull ache from the middle of my left thigh to just below my waist radiating outward.

  Connie padded over once the last of the pancakes were off the stove, a plate in his hand with at least five large pancakes stacked proudly.  “Here,” He said, offering the plate to me, which I took gratefully (if a little slowly).  I gritted my teeth against the ache, trying to find a comfortable way to sit, and Connie noticed.  “Still aching from your falls last night?”  He asked, his eyebrows drawn together in worry.  I shrugged, stabbing at the pancakes viciously, ignoring Eren’s and Sasha’s quiet conversation that made me think of radio static.  Connie bit at his lip, before sighing and turning back to the kitchen to snag his own plate of pancakes.  It was a while before either of us spoke after that, Eren soon leaving after seeing the clock ticking closer and closer to 10am and telling me to lock up once all of us decided to leave.  Sasha left a few minutes after that, sniffing discreetly at her armpits and claiming she needed a shower.  I fidgeted anxiously, hyper aware of Connie shuffling around in Eren’s kitchen, before he shuffled out and collapsed on the beanbag chair across from me.

  “Sorry for, y’know, gettin’ all clingy last night,”  Connie muttered, tugging on the hem of his short shorts.  

  "S’fine,” I yawned, rolling my shoulders until they popped loudly, adding “If I minded, I would’ve said something at the time.  I’m just a bit surprised...That you weren’t clinging to your pal Sasha.”  I wanted to say something different, about how I had felt a little safer with Connie’s hand in mine and my arm around his waist as we stupidly explored that creepy-ass hospital last night.  Connie smiled wanly, before pulling a phone from...Where exactly did he pull that phone out of?  I would’ve put more thought into it, if Connie hadn’t started speaking.

  “Well, uhm, can I get your number?  Y’know, to hang out?  Or like, if you want, I’m pretty open about dating, and I liked how your hands felt last night.  W-wait, not like that, shit, you  _ know _ how I meant that!”  Connie groaned loudly as I snickered at him, before quickly reciting my number.  He read it back to me before sending me a text, and I heard my phone chime from the bottom of my backpack.

  “I’ll text you back later...But I dunno when my ass won’t stop hurting from all that falling last night, fuck,” I groaned as I shifted the tiniest bit off of my ass.  Connie dug through Eren’s closet until he found his heating pad, exactly where I had remembered Eren throwing it the last time I fell and needed it while in Shinganshina.  Connie even was kind enough to plug it in and turn it up for me, before leaving after I promised that I’d text him sometime today.

  Sighing loudly, I let myself drape across Eren’s shitty loveseat like I had wanted to the night before, dragging my backpack over across the floor.  After how sickeningly sweet and domestic this morning had felt, aside from Eren being his normal douchebaggy self, what had happened last night felt...Surreal.  Had it even happened?  I dug my hands into my backpack, shuffling quickly around until I grasped the two files I remembered shoving in there last night.  With a small distressed sigh, I pulled them out and stared at the names on the files.  Carla Jaeger and Eren Jaeger...Did I really have the right to go through Eren’s giant file?  Like, yeah, we’re friends, but...I threw the files onto Eren’s bed, quelling my curiosity when realizing that if Eren had a file of my medical history, I’d rather him not poke through it.  Might as well give him that same courtesy.  Digging a little further into my backpack, I finally found my phone, even though I was now hovering halfway off the loveseat as I swiped the text icon to see Connie’s message.

 

**xxx-xxx-xxxx**

_ Hey it’s Connie, the one that was clinging super much to you last night?  In the weird hospital that Eren dragged us to? _

  
  


I snorted slightly, adding his name into my contacts and thumbing out a reply.

 

**Me**

_ ye i remember. wanna go out for ice cream later tonight? _

 

**Connie Clinger**

_ Sounds great!  Hopefully you can walk by then :P _

 

**Me**

_ lmfao i hope so xD  does 7pm work for u? _

 

**Connie Clinger**

_ Perfect.  See you then~! _


End file.
